


after the rebellion

by Poose, seven_hells (Poose)



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Babies, Canon Het Relationship, F/M, Gen, Marriage, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-15
Updated: 2012-04-15
Packaged: 2017-11-03 17:56:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/384241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poose/pseuds/Poose, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poose/pseuds/seven_hells
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A tiny drabble-ish thing for Ned and Cat, who break my heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	after the rebellion

He returned eleven months after their hurried wedding, eleven months and twelve hours after the bedding that had blessed her with a son -- a chubby-armed boy with a tuft of fiery Tully hair and a tendency to snuffle in his sleep. For two months Cat had waited and hoped and prayed for the return of the husband whom she had known but one night.   
  
Lord Eddard Stark was a brave warrior and a man of supreme honor, and he had married her for Brandon, in his brother's place, as Brandon would have done had he not been slain, but he had none of his brother's warmth. Perhaps all Northmen were cold and her Brandon had been an exception, Catelyn thought.   
  
His face was stony at meals and impassive when he bedded her, and great silences were his wont. She did not ask him about the war; his eyes told her he did not wish to speak of it. He prayed, too, though not in the sept. Catelyn had even thought he might be visiting a brothel when he left her, and one time went so far as to spy upon him.   
  
Lord Eddard Stark's version of a brothel was to sit by a still pool surrounded by trees and polish his greatsword.   
  
As she watched him, Catelyn felt a great sorrow for them both -- he, who had lost his siblings for no cause at all, and she, who had lost a love besides. So the next time he took leave of her she waited a good while before following him.   
  
"My Lord?"  
  
He looked up at her, his lady wife, with his red-haired son alseep in her arms.   
  
"Might we sit with you a while?"   
  
He nodded and gestured at the bench beside him. Robb grunted as she lowered herself down, adjusting her skirts beneath her, and there they sat, together and quiet -- first for days which then became weeks, until Robb was crawling on all fours around the heart tree and babbling happily to his reflection in the water. Her son laughed -- a beautiful tinkle, as welcome to her as the sound of running water, and then, for the first time ever, she saw Ned Stark smile, a quick flash all the more blinding for being as rare as a harvest moon.   
  
"He has your hair," Ned said, taking her hand and squeezing it.   
  
Catelyn followed his gaze to their child, his cheeks pink and his hair as red as fire, looking at himself in the pool.   
  
"So he does," she said, squeezing back.


End file.
